What To Expect From The Walking Dead’s Midseason Premiere

Season 7 has been a tough for one for Walking Dead fans. Following the brutal and heartbreaking premiere which took two main characters, AMC's apocalyptic drama came to a screeching halt. In order to set up the upcoming resistance against Negan, the first half of this season mostly contained capsule episodes which focused on a few characters a time. This pace was maddening for hardcore fans, resulting in a drop in viewership. And because so little action happened, the winter hiatus feels even more excruciating than normal. But the show will return next week, and now we know what to expect from the midseason premiere.

The Walking Dead's producer, makeup supervisor, and director Greg Nicotero recently sat down with EW about the show's return. Having directed the midseason premiere, Nicotero knows every detail of the episode. And regarding what to expect from the show's return, Nicotero said the following,

I'm very excited. I think episode nine is one of the best of the season, by far, in terms of storytelling, in terms of performances, in terms of audience expectations of seeing the band back together and putting our group back on their feet again. It's very exciting and quite a bit of fun, and the season builds and builds up to an absolutely thrilling finale. In the midseason premiere, there's an action sequence that I devised that is pretty stupendous and very exciting. I can't wait for people to see it.

Well, it looks like February 12th is going to be a very good day for Walking Dead viewers. Greg Nicotero is promising happy fans, which is exactly what the series needs at the moment. With Nicotero acknowledging that they've taken audience expectations into consideration, let's explore what will most likely happen when The Walking Dead returns in a week from Sunday.

To start, we should expect to see most, if not all, of our favorite characters in the episode. In stark transition to Season 7's modus operandi, the ensemble cast will all be on screen, and working together. 7A ended with the majority of the group reuniting at The Hilltop, and the opening scenes should pick up exactly where we left off. The damaged group will begin planning their revolt against Negan, although they're going to need help from both The Hilltop and The Kingdom.

There also appears to be a big action sequence in the works, likely bringing the threat of zombies back into the narrative. With the group essentially weaponless (except for Rick's Colt Python), they'll likely have to use hand to hand combat in order to survive and plan their revolt. Which means that the midseason premiere will also have tons of action, in addition to assembling most characters.

The Walking Dead will return to AMC next Sunday, February 12th. To find out when your other favorite shows are returning from hiatus, be sure to check our winter premiere list.